DISTANT WAVES

A Novel of the Titanic

Age Range: 13 & up

Pub Date: April 1st, 2009ISBN: 978-0-545-08572-4Publisher: Scholastic

As a clever and independent young woman, Jane is skeptical of her mother’s work as a renowned spirit medium but not willing to write it off completely; her fate hinges on her agnosticism. Despite multiple predictions of disaster, Jane and her four sisters wind up aboard the Titanic as it departs England on its maiden voyage, and she faces a choice: Should she believe the prophecies and get them all off the ship when it stops in France or Ireland, or should she have faith in science and proceed with the transatlantic crossing? The well-researched story relies heavily on dialogue to impart rich historical detail, resulting in stiff, unnatural exchanges. But Weyn weaves fantasy together with factual threads of the Spiritualist movement, Nikola Tesla’s inventions and the celebrity-studded passenger list of the doomed ocean liner to produce a tale that is half history-textbook and half science-fiction–thriller. The author’s note clarifies where she has taken liberties with real people and events. For readers who can accept the premise, this is a page-turner. (Historical fantasy. 13 & up)